24 June, 2018
Being India’s leading automobile manufacturer, our company has witnessed its sales in commercial vehicles (CV) segment grow up to 44 percent in 2017-2018. In an attempt to further improve the productivity and profitability we have shifted our strategy to focusing on the CV business to adjust with the transiting times.
FY2017-2018
According to the Commercial Vehicles domestic sales data, , in 2017-2018 we sold around 399,317 units of CVs as compared to 325,211 units that were sold in 2016-2017. We grew by 23 percent in FY18 while the overall CV industry sales grew by 21 percent with 904,307 units compared to 747,427 units last year. In terms of market share, we increased ours to 44.2 percent in FY18 from 43.5 percent in FY17. "FY18 has been landmark year for the CV business of Tata Motors. Reviving the domestic CV business was one of the key focus areas in the company's turnaround strategy. We are delighted that we have gained good momentum and shown growth on the back of strong product portfolio across segments and intense customer engagement." Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit.
FY2018-2020
Girish Wagh, during a recent interaction with The Economic Times revealed that we will be investing Rs. 3,000 crores in our commercial vehicle business until over the next two years. This investment will be utilized to develop new products; to upgrade the existing ones that will meet the upcoming emission standards; to debottleneck the production processes so that the flow of product is not limited and increasing demands can be met.
BS-VI
With BS-VI just two years away, our capital expenditure will totally be used for meeting emission standards and is expected to consolidate the Commercial Vehicles business further. It is evident that key purchase criteria continue to be on payload and fuel efficiency, with specific focus on total cost of ownership. To tackle this equation, we are not only working on reducing the cost of diesel vehicles but are also considering alternate fuel options to satisfy the needs of our customers. "We have done an analysis across our portfolio and within that for each of the segment or application, after what kilometers does diesel become viable. Now if you are going to be below that in certain applications, you may have to consider alternate fuels," Mr. Wagh said.
For the new fiscal year, our company is taking a leap forward by implementing Turnaround 2.0 that will make sure we achieve our targets while improving our performance.
